New Delhi: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese believes that the India-Australia Test rivalry has now become bigger than the Ashes. India and Australia are currently locking horns in a five-match Test series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. India are leading the high-profile series 1-0 after registering a dominant 295-run victory in the 1st Test in Perth.
India and Australia are arguably two of the best Test teams at present and have produced some of the most memorable encounters in the longest format over the years. While Australia beat India to claim their maiden World Test Championship (WTC) title last year, India have been unbeaten in their last four Test series against the Aussies, including two on Australian soil.
India are the only Asian team to have claimed back-to-back Test series victories in Australia and are eyeing their third win on the trot in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The two teams share a great rivalry in the longest format which has been often compared with the Ashes. Ashes is one of the oldest rivalries in cricket between England and Australia and is often regarded as the greatest in the game’s history.
However, the Australian Prime Minister believes the India-Australia rivalry has now surpassed the Ashes considering the stakes are high when the two teams meet and the matches draw a lot of eyeballs from fans all around the world.
“I think it is now (India-Australia bigger than the Ashes), the population, if you look at the IPL is just such a huge part of global cricket now. Prime Minister Modi, there I was there at Narendra Modi stadium there in Ahmedabad for the test match and the crowd was enormous. Of course, it seats more people than any ground in the world and they’re so passionate,” Albanese said in an interview with Fox Sports.
Speaking further, the Australian Prime Minister suggested that increasing the number of matches to five in the Test series has increased the intensity of the rivalry between India and Australia. Albanese is hopeful that the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia in Melbourne will attract huge crowds and will boost Australian tourism.
“And of course, we played the final at the international cricket series (World Test Championship) was played in the in London. And we were successful there, but the series, there’s a real rivalry and now I would suggest even more. It used to happen sometimes just a three-test series. It’s going to be Boxing Day will be huge on December 26 I think, you know, they could get the 100,000 people there and it’s great for Australian tourism as well,” Albanese added.
Day 1 of India vs Australia Prime Minister’s XI washed out
Meanwhile, Day 1 of India’s warm-up match against the Australia Prime Minister’s XI was washed out due to rain on Saturday. The two teams will now play a 50-over match on Day 2. Ahead of the warm-up game, Aussie PM Albanese had hosted the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team at Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra.
The Indian players met and interacted with the Australian Prime Minister and his other counterparts at the parliament house. Albanese also interacted with the Indian players at the Manuka Oval in Canberra ahead of the practice match against Australia Prime Minister’s XI on Saturday. The second Test between India and Australia will get underway in Adelaide Oval from December 06.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insisted the Test rivalry between India and Australia is now bigger than the Ashes. Albanese recently hosted the Rohit Sharma-led Indian team at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
